Author: Maria DiRico
Genre; Mystery
Mass Market Paperback; Digital Book
ISBN #: 9781496725356
Kensington Publishing
288 Pages
$7.69; $6.99 Amazon
February 23, 2021
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Mia's newly pregnant friend Nicole plans to hold a shower at Belle View -- but Nicole also has to attend one that her competitive (and mysteriously rich) stepmother, Tina, is throwing at the fanciest place in Queens. It's a good chance for Mia to snoop on a competitor, especially since doing a search for "how to run a catering hall" can only get you so far.
Mia tags along at the lavish party, but the ambiance suffers at Nicole's Belle View shower when a fight breaks out -- and then, oddly, a long-missing and valuable stolen painting is unwrapped by the mom-to-be. Tina is clearly shocked to see it. But not as shocked as Mia is when soon afterward she spots the lifeless body of a party guest floating in the marina...
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Mia Carina is just learning how to run a catering hall, her father's first legitimate business as part of the Family. She's determined to make a go of it in order to make her father proud. But when she attends a baby shower for her friend Nicole, she's stunned by the ostentatiousness of it and can't believe what Nicole's stepmother Tina is thinking. Everything is over the top, and Mia's heart sinks, since she knows her catering hall can't compete with this one.
Still, when it's her turn to have a baby shower given by the mother and grandmother of the bride at her hall, everyone seems happy with it -- at least until Tina arrives and seems to take over completely. Later on, Mia interrupts an argument between Tina and Nicole's mother, Linda, and hopes everything will quiet down. But when the body of Tina is found floating in the water, Linda is the main suspect, and Mia is asked to investigate by her own Italian grandmother and her friends. How can she turn them down?...
This is the second book in the series, and I did enjoy it quite as much as the first. There was one disappointment toward the end, but only because I felt there was a buildup toward something else in the first book. Either way, it did not spoil my enjoyment of the book, nor really change anything too much, so I will have to see how it goes in the third.
When Mia is asked to investigate the murder, she does so reluctantly, because of course, she doesn't want to get involved. But since she's sure that there's something hinky going on with the other catering hall, the people who run it, and she's sure there's a connection to Tina and the painting. But without saying too much more, Mia finds more than she bargained for, and things get a bit more involved than she thought.
There's also a cute subplot involving her grandmother and their new neighbor Phillip that I found quite funny. It weaves in seamlessly, and even Mia gets caught up in it. I do like her nonna and the rest of her family, even her incarcerated narcissistic brother Posi. The author makes the series a delight to read, and the mystery is no less interesting.
When we finally get to put everything together, it's definitely a convoluted twist, but you can see the killer emerging if you look for the clues. I loved the story, the characters, the descriptions of everything Mia sees, and I will keep reading this series and the next can't come soon enough. Highly recommended.
More on Maria DiRico's Books: https://www.fantasticfiction.com/d/maria-dirico/
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